About

$139,358

pledged of $15,000 goal

2,836

backers

Compounded is a game about building chemical compounds through careful management of elements, a fair bit of social play and trading, and just a bit of luck. In Compounded, players take on the roles of lab managers, hastily competing to complete the most compounds before they are completed by others – or destroyed in an explosion. Some compounds are flammable and will grow more and more volatile over time; take too long to gather the necessary elements for those compounds and a lot of hard work will soon be scattered across the lab.

Although Compounded does involve a fair share of press-your-luck tension and certainly some strategic planning, the most successful scientists will often be those who strike a good trade with their fellow lab mates. Players are able to freely trade elements, laboratory tools and even favors – if there is truly honor among chemists!

Compounded will offer the same hallmark replay value as other Dice Hate Me Games titles, with high-quality components. Compounded will include five thick cardboard personal Work Benches where players manage their experiments and tools; thick punchboard player claim tokens, tools and the coveted lab key that marks the Lead Scientist; 100 plastic "element" crystals in six different elemental colors; a bag for storing and blindly pulling elements during the game; and 70 square compound cards, printed on high-quality cardstock. There's also a thick cardboard scoring track (it's the periodic table!) and we'll even throw in some plastic baggies to organize and store all your cardboard goodies!

Compounded will come in the Dice Hate Me Games "Rooster"-sized box - halfway between a Monkey (Carnival, The Great Heartland Hauling Co.) and a Tiger (VivaJava). What's this crazy talk? Take a look here for more information on our box sizes and game categories!

Compounded is a game for 2 to 5 players, ages 12 and up, and designed by Darrell Louder. Compounded is a distinguished three-year alum of Cartrunk Entertainment's Unpub program - a series of public and private playtest events held each year to help designers present, hone and polish their game designs with the gaming public, as well as board game production professionals.

If you'd like to dig deeper into Compounded, you can download the rules here. Please bear in mind that the rules design is still a work in progress - we're working on editing, refining, and adding art and examples to make them as clear as possible before the game goes into production. Well, hopefully into production - that's where you all come in!

Achieving our base funding goal ensures that Dice Hate Me Games will be able to publish Compounded with the quality that we all have come to expect. However, the base game of Compounded is priced according to our initial funding goal; exceeding that funding goal will allow us to add more to the game, such as select component upgrades, an in-game expansion (or "inspansion"), and maybe another special goodie or two if the campaign does well. So spread the word, get your friends and family to pledge, and stay tuned for updates for more information on those special stretch goal rewards! Remember, backers who pledge for a copy of Compounded (CHEMISTRY 101 pledge level and above) receive ALL stretch goals - so pledge early and rest easy in knowing you'll never have to upgrade your pledge to get more goodies.

Our first stretch goal has been reached - an upgrade to the Lab Key Lead Scientist token! This hefty wooden token will signify who gets to do all the cool stuff first in the turn. In other words - when you're holding the key, you're in charge! For more info. on the $35K stretch goal upgrade, check out Update #2.

Our second stretch goal has been reached!. We will be adding the Lab Partners Inspansion! The Lab Partners Inspansion includes 20 large cards (standard "tarot" size) that represent much larger compounds available for completion in the lab. Each compound has two spots for Claim Tokens, meaning that two scientists can work on the compound together and, when completed, would each score the indicated points. Of course, if one scientist puts two of their own Claim Tokens on the big compound and completes it, that scientist will score double the indicated points! It's tough to do - and that scientist is likely to have a big target on their head - but it can mean a big payout if someone takes the risk! You can learn more about the Lab Partners stretch goal in Update #3.

Our next two stretch goals are set for $75K and $85K, and they are component upgrades to the game. We have reached the $75K AND $85K stretch goals and now it is possible for us to bump up the number of games produced which will lower production costs enough for us to include wooden player discs and a custom sticker sheet with every game! You can see what the discs will look like close up and on a Lab Table below. For more information about the next two stretch goals, please check out Update #6.

Now we've reached $85K in funding, we can upgrade the score board! Right now, the score board is thick punchboard and still rather nice, but we can make it better, we can make it bigger - and we can make it fold!

And for our final trick, we'd like to give every Kickstarter backer a little something special. We want to include something that has been Darrell's wish from the very beginning, but it's not cheap, and it's something we only wanted to offer strictly to Kickstarter backers (because it will take the MSRP of the base game too high). And, so, we introduce the $95K stretch goal - test tubes to hold the player pieces! See update #11 for more details.

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"The game flow of Compounded is pretty simple but there is a lot of strategy to it… The simplicity of the core game means that it would be great for both children and adults, but then because there are modifiers and abilities that you can level up there is a depth that makes the game more accessible to anyone who enjoys strategy gaming." - Scott King, Writer. Photographer. Educator. (and non-tabletop gamer)

"I had a blast playing this game, and can't wait to play it again. The design is very solid, and seeing the graphic design work that they've started on this, I can't wait to see how nice the final product looks." – Jason Tagmire, Fruitless Pursuits

"I loved it... I'm a fan of "draw X blindly" mechanics. I know it introduces a lot of luck and randomness, but I personally think it increases tension and makes for a more dramatic game, so I loved drawing for elements. Honestly, I'm not a big trading game guy. But with Compounded, I actually loved the trading mechanic. The fact that you could barter items, element placement, and elements themselves really added a fun dimension to it... I would have bought it mid-game, if I could've. That's how much I liked it."– Chris Copac

“After finishing our initial demo, I wanted to play again and employ strategies that slowly became apparent. This game also gets major points for causing my wife–a biology major–to completely nerd out… it’s something awesome when her eyes light up over a game. Because of this, and the overall enjoyment I had playing, Compounded will almost assuredly be an insta-back when the Kickstarter campaign drops.” – Eric Leath

Kickstarter provides a platform for direct consumers to get Compounded shipped directly to their door before it hits the store shelves. As a retailer, though, you may reserve copies of the game through Game Salute.

Without our Kickstarter Backers, Dice Hate Me Games would not be able to bring quality games to market. To show our respect and appreciation, DHMG promises that backer copies of Compounded will be shipped out before copies are available for purchase at retailers or conventions. DHMG also pledges to keep all backers informed at every step in the development, printing and delivery processes. We love staying in touch with all of our supporters, so please never hesitate to contact us with questions and concerns.

Hello - it's us again! We are so grateful for the support of our extended Kickstarter family that have made possible three great projects - Carnival, VivaJava and The Great Heartland Hauling Co. We could not have done any of this without the encouragement and pledges of our backers, so thank you.

We're here once again to ask you for some help in producing another wonderful game from a talented designer and all-around great guy. Darrell has worked tirelessly on Compounded for years, and it has evolved and gotten better and better since we were exposed to it in late 2011. After the first play, Cherilyn's nerdy heart immediately fell in love, and the rest is history. We're hoping that all of you will fall in love, as well, and help us continue to make some history together with great games that are fun, engaging and filled with just the right amount of chemistry.

All the best,Chris & Cherilyn

Risks and challenges

As with any project that involves the production and manufacture of a good to be delivered, there is certainly a real chance for hiccups, delays and more than one or two gremlins gumming up the works along the way. Many boardgame projects on Kickstarter have been seriously hampered by art production delays, problems with an overseas factory, missing units and one shipping snafu after another.

Luckily, we have a few projects under our belt, and have dealt with many of those snafus and gremlins along the way. We have a good working relationship with two of our overseas manufacturers and have become accustomed to their protocols, communication styles and general idiosyncrasies. We try to plan for all contingencies, and we've been fairly successful with that in our past projects.

We won't lie - stuff happens. Delays can occur. Sometimes you have to go back and forth on color samples six times just to get the color right, and even then the color isn't perfect. But what we do promise is that we will hold ourselves to the same high standards we expect from other board game publishers, and we will be completely honest and open with each of you every step of the way.

Support

Select this reward

Pledge $8 or more
About $8

JUNIOR CHEMIST - We understand some of you may not be able to afford the whole Compounded experience, but want to help us out within your budget. For 8 bucks, we'll send you one official Dice Hate Me button with the Dice Hate Me logo (wear it proudly whenever you roll dice!) and a button with the Compounded logo (with Better Gaming Through Chemistry). We'll also throw in some virtual hugs!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

CHEMISTRY TUTORING - With this level, Compounded creator Darrell Louder will spend up to 4 hours teaching you and your fellow chemistry enthusiasts how to play Compounded via Skype. You'll be privy to all the secrets on how to be the best of the best. You will also receive, of course, one copy of Compounded, signed by the creator, any applicable stretch goal rewards, plus one Dice Hate Me button and one Compounded button, delivered anywhere in the world, PLUS a special mention as Lead Scientists on the official Compounded web page on dicehatemegames.com.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $175 or more
About $175

COMPOUNDED COLLECTOR - This is for the serious scientists who want to own a piece of Compounded history - and get the game before anyone else! With this level, you will receive a specially-prepared limited edition Compounded prototype built by designer Darrell Louder. The prototype will be similar to the prototype that Darrell has been using for demos, and will include a personal note from the creator with history and secrets, as well as a hand-sewn (by Darrell!) elements bag. Best of all, this prototype will ship out to you months before the final game arrives so you can be first in your lab to start the experiment! You will also receive, of course, one copy of Compounded, signed by the creator, any applicable stretch goal rewards, plus one Dice Hate Me button, one Compounded button and one Dice Hate Me game tote, delivered anywhere in the world, PLUS a special mention as Lab Partners on the official Compounded web page on dicehatemegames.com. For more information on all the goodies in this pledge level, please see project Update #8.